


The Same World, But Different

by Nevanna



Category: Angel: the Series, Jekyll (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-27
Updated: 2014-02-27
Packaged: 2018-01-13 22:36:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1243075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevanna/pseuds/Nevanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We'll even offer a few tips, if you like.  Professional courtesy."  An alliance between two detectives of the unknown.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Same World, But Different

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for Bookelfe, and posted on 3/18/11.

After the biting November wind, the inside of the café is a bit too warm, and thick with the smell of bacon grease and old chewing gum. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce – for so he introduced himself on the steps outside the hall of records – pulls out Miranda’s chair before taking his own seat. She chuckles at this. “Fancy that – chivalry’s not dead after all.”

“So it would seem,” Wesley concedes. 

“One less death means one less thing for me to investigate, is how I see it.” She eyes him. “Or one fewer case for a new player to steal out from under me.”

“Pardon me?”

“You were investigating the same thing I was, weren’t you? Trying to find out how far back these disappearances go, whether there’s any sort of pattern, and so on, and so forth?” The waitress sets down a plate of biscuits between them. “Thank you, sweetheart.” To Wesley, “Doesn’t surprise me, really. We’ll even offer a few tips, if you like. Professional courtesy.”

“What sort of amateur do you think I am?” Wesley’s voice is measured but chilly. “I assure you that I’ve been doing this for a long time. In one form or another.”

She briefly wonders how long a time it’s been. He looks about ten years younger than she is – mid-thirties, at the outside – and has a bit of that unshaven, smoldering, lone-wolf aesthetic about him. “So what do you think took those children, then?”

“I’ve not been able to reach any conclusions, as of yet.”

“But…?” Miranda prompts him.

“It’s not the sort of thing that I expect all detectives to just believe.” He raises his teacup to his lips.

“Oh, you don’t say?” Miranda reaches for the ashtray. “Five months ago, my niece turned on one of the guests at her birthday party and drove a stake right through his heart. Exploded into dust on the spot, he did.” Wesley pauses mid-sip. “And that’s not even the strangest thing I’ve seen, either before or since. So go on; take your best shot.”

Wesley exhales. “So you know about vampires, do you? And their Slayers?”

“A bit here, a bit there,” she replies. “It’s become quite a different world out there, hasn’t it? It’s not very often that everything changes all at once, or that we’re lucky – or, I suppose, unlucky – enough to witness it.”

“If you’re prepared for the truth…” He pauses dramatically, and Miranda tries not to laugh. Nothing about this situation is really funny. “I don’t think that the children were taking by anything that’s… of this world.” She motions for him to continue. “There was a substance, on the park bench where little Cynthia Haldane vanished, that strongly resembles the residue of inter-dimensional travel.” He mutters at his folded hands, “I was supposed to be on leave, too.”

“Nobody is forcing you to get involved.”

“I suppose not.”

“So why are you?”

Wesley glares at her. “I wasn’t aware that I needed a _reason_ to look into why _infants_ are disappearing from their nurseries.”

“If you say so.” Miranda produces one of her business cards. Quite nice ones, too; Min was very proud of them. “Before we look into this, I'll want to look into what _you're_ about. But I have a feeling that you’d come in useful.”


End file.
